No-one quite knew what to expect when My Mad Fat Diary hit our screens at the beginning of the year, but before long we were all in love with Rae and co. From the brilliant, nostalgic '90s soundtrack to the quirky on-screen graphics and tricks; from the romances to the unashamed honesty about teenage life (good God, that period skirt), My Mad Fat Diary was utterly charming.

It had something for everyone, from goofy, adorable Archie to Tumblr-ready Finn, and who doesn't know "a Chloe"? Add to that a delicate, thoughtful and subtle exploration of mental health and you've got one of the surprising hits of the year – a show that Brits should be proud of.

Where Homeland's second season had a strong beginning before dovetailing into a shaky back half, its third season has been the opposite. Frontloaded with a strange combination of dodgy characterization, gap-filled plotting and what appeared to be the backdoor pilot for a Dana Brody-centric CW drama, this latest set of episodes gradually unfurled itself into a stronger, darker, more morally complex story.

With a ruthless, almost unrecognizable Saul in charge and Damian Lewis's Brody largely out of the picture, showrunners Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa had room to explore the dynamics of the CIA in greater depth and detail than before, making great use of Quinn (Rupert Friend) and new recruit Fara (Nazanin Boniadi) to get into the nitty-gritty of what it really takes to do this job day to day.

But in truth, it wasn't until a broken Brody was brought back into play that the season struck gold. Keeping Carrie and Brody apart for so long (after the romance-heavy second season) only made Lewis and Claire Danes's remarkable chemistry all the more potent when they were reunited, and the eternal question of where Brody's loyalties lie gets re-examined to tense, surprising and very emotional ends.

AMC's zombie drama in 2013 was very much a show of two halves, with Glen Mazzara acting as showrunner for season three's second act and Scott Gimple taking charge for the first part of the newest run. But, without wishing to denigrate the work of either man, the change was barely noticeable - The Walking Dead continued to wow critics and smash ratings records this year.

Despite its baffling lack of awards recognition, the show boasts not only harrowing horror and inventive gore, but also some of the best acting performances on television - Andrew Lincoln, Scott Wilson, Danai Gurira, David Morrissey, Norman Reedus and guest star Lennie James have all been phenomenal. At its heart, this is not a show not about blood and guts - it's a show about its characters. The Walking Dead is not a zombie drama, it's a human drama.

Daft title. Brilliant show. Peaky Blinders was a low-key British success story at the end of the year for BBC Two, managing to escape the tag of the 'British Boardwalk Empire'. Steven Knight's 1920s Brummie gangster series stood out in its own right thanks to its confident storytelling, a leading man so cool he could give Don Draper a run for his money (we doff our flat caps to the suave Cillian Murphy) and a soundtrack so flipping awesome that we'd gladly have whole episodes without any actual dialog.

As fantastic as The Walking Dead has been this year, it was actually the second best zombie drama on television in 2013 - the gold medal goes to a little BBC Three show that could, Dominic Mitchell's brilliantly offbeat take on the living dead, In The Flesh.

A story about outsiders, about family tensions, about young love, about bigotry and small-town thinking, In The Flesh was three hours of absolutely captivating television, anchored by Luke Newberry's powerful performance as Kieren. Thank goodness BBC Three learned a lesson from The Fades and ordered an extended second series for 2014.